She was also impressed by her main course – a butterfly fillet of mackerel coated in rolled oats, topped with caper, garlic and parsley butter and served with new potatoes, carrots, fennel and lightly battered fried courgettes.

I also headed seawards for my main course and ate swordfish splattered with a punchy anchovy, caper, herb and lemon sauce.

The sauté potatoes that accompanied it were good, but the fried courgettes – like those served to my wife – were even better.

We prevaricated long and hard about ordering dessert from an interesting list, but dismissed the idea reluctantly for we were simply too full.

We finished our bottle of Etna Rosso – a robust and excellent Sicilian red that was great value at £19.50 but was probably a poor choice with the dishes we’d eaten.

By now, Buonissimo was almost full. A small wonder when it serves such rustic delights at a fair price and with an unfailing smile and great efficiency.

If only we had more Italian restaurants such as this, I might have got to like artichokes a whole lot earlier...